Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Thoughts and Prayers for Kamala Harris

Talking Turkey to Trump Derangement Syndrome - Thankgiving Day Guide

Pro-Hamas Mob Tries to Block Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

Sotomayor “Meant What She Said and Said What She Meant”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 31, 2009 0 Comments

Ruth Marcus is a columnist for the Washington Post. By any standard, Marcus is left-of-center, not an Obama-basher, and not hostile to liberal causes. So when Marcus rejects the White House spin on Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" statement, it deserves attention:Nice try, Mr. President, but...

Because I’m Entitled

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 31, 2009 7 Comments

I did it because I'm entitled to burn a jet-load full of fuel, even though:I plan to cap industry's production of carbon emissions regardless of whether it destroys our global competitivenessMy carbon emission caps will cost consumers thousands of dollars per family in higher energy...

Those Other “Unfortunate” Words

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 31, 2009 0 Comments

“Scott, you said that – or the President said, repeatedly, that Harriet Miers was the best person for the job. So does that mean Alito is sloppy seconds, or what?” CBS News Correspondent, John Roberts, at White House Press Briefing, questioning White House Press Secretary...

Prominent Constitutional Scholar Warns Of “Stealth Nominee”

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 30, 2009 4 Comments

Bruce Ackerman, a prominent constitutional law professor at Yale Law School, warned against the tactic of "stealth" Supreme Court nominations, where an ideologically driven President who seeks to change the direction of the Supreme Court nominates a relatively undistinguished appeals court judge whose lack of...

Sotomayor’s Damned Statistics

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 30, 2009 4 Comments

"There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." So it is said. We now have reached stage three of the Sotomayor debate, because we are into statistical analysis of her opinions and dissents.First, some backdrop on statistics as relates to Supreme Court nominees. During the confirmation...

MIT Shuts Down Student-Run Anti-Israel Magazine After it Appears to Support Violence

Ohio Republicans Propose Ban on Asking for Preferred Pronouns on Applications to Public Universities

U. Minnesota Suspends and Fines Pro-Hamas Rioters Who Took Over Building

Brown University Transfers Ownership of a Portion of its Land to Local Indian Tribe

The Battle to End Wokeness is Just Getting Started

U. Michigan Regent Says School Reconsidering DEI Policies

Misleading Sotomayor Headline Of The Day

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2009 3 Comments

At a 2001 conference, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor uttered these now-famous words: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”...

Ambassador “Vacuum Cleaner” Gets Company

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2009 1 Comment

Louis Susman of Chicago was nicknamed "the vacuum cleaner" because he was so good at cleaning out the pockets of the wealthy to get them to give to Democratic causes and candidates. As noted on this blog last February, Susman was in line for ambassadorship...

Sotomayor’s Disparate Impact

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2009 2 Comments

The New York Times has an article today about Sonia Sotomayor's board membership at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEP) starting in the 1980s until she joined the federal judiciary in 1992. According to the article, Sotomayor was far from a passive...

Release The Sotomayor Memos

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 28, 2009 15 Comments

Barack Obama campaigned on the theme of a new era of transparency. Obama used that theme as a justification for the release of four highly classified internal Justice Department memos detailing strategies for interrogation of al-Qaeda detainees, over the objections of Obama's own Director of...

First Libby, Now Burris

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 27, 2009 2 Comments

On December 9, 2008, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald held an emergency press conference to announce a criminal complaint against then Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. While there were many accusations, the most prominent and inflammatory was that Blagojevich attempted to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat...

Federal Challenge to Prop. 8

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2009 1 Comment

A federal lawsuit has been filed challenging Proposition 8 (via Instapundit and Volokh Conspiracy). The lawsuit was filed last Friday, May 22, 2009, by noted Republican attorney Ted Olson, and noted Democratic attorney David Boies. Olson and Boies were on opposite sides of the landmark...

Split Decision on Prop. 8

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2009 2 Comments

The California Supreme Court has issued a split ruling, upholding Proposition 8 but also upholding the validity of gay marriages which took place prior to passage of Prop. 8.Proposition 8 enshrined in the California Constitution the traditional definition of marriage, providing that only marriages between...

Playing The Nork Card

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2009 5 Comments

In an earlier post, I noted how one Huffington Post blogger, Allison Kilkenny, had called John Bolton "crazy" just five days ago for warning that North Korea was on the verge of another nuclear test. I wondered whether there would be an apology in light...

Will The Left Apologize To Bolton?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2009 48 Comments

On May 20, 2009, John Bolton wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal titled "Get Ready for Another North Korean Nuke Test" in which he noted that the complacency of the Obama administration about North Korea's nuclear ambitions (and Iran's) was misplaced:"The curtain is...

Do President Thinker’s Flip-Flops Fit?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2009 2 Comments

When the NY Times takes Obama to task, I am always a little suspicious. Will this be a "he's not perfect, but at least he's not Bush" type of critique; a compliment disguised as a criticism.So I don't know what to make of this piece...

Remember Ilan Halimi

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2009 0 Comments

Gateway Pundit has a good update on the murder of Ilan Halimi:Ilan was lured to his death by a woman he had met in his telephone store. They met up late on the night of January 20, 2006, in one of Paris's southern suburbs, Bagneux....

Distortion and Hypocrisy Galore

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 23, 2009 11 Comments

The latest internet outrage-bubble started with a post at Politico titled RNC's below-the-belt shot at Nancy Pelosi, regarding a Republican National Committee YouTube video about Nancy Pelosi. I agree with AllahPundit that the RNC should not have produced the video, among other reasons, because "they...